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 Researchers examined information on medical history, lifestyle and
eating habits for more than 210,000 healthcare workers. During an
average follow-up of more than two decades, 14,136 people developed
cardiovascular disease, including 8,390 coronary heart disease cases
and 5,910 strokes.
Compared to people who rarely, if ever, ate nuts, people who had one
28-gram serving of nuts at least five times a week were 14% less
likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 20% less likely to
develop coronary heart disease, the study found.
“Consuming a variety of nuts at least a few times per week is
beneficial to lowering risk of cardiovascular disease,” said senior
study author Shilpa Bhupathiraju, a nutrition researcher at the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
But people shouldn’t overdo it, and they should avoid salted nuts.
“Nuts are high in calories,” Bhupathiraju said by email. “They
should be eaten in small portions and used to replace other protein
foods rather than being added to the diet.”
Eating nuts has long been linked to a lower risk of heart disease,
diabetes, and high blood pressure, but much of this research has
focused on overall intake rather than identifying specific types of
nuts that may have the biggest benefit.
The current study looked at different types of nuts separately and
found that people who ate walnuts at least once a week had a 19%
lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of
coronary heart disease than people who never at nuts.
At least two weekly servings of peanuts, meanwhile, was associated
with a 13% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 15% lower risk
of coronary heart disease.
Two servings or more of tree nuts such as almonds, cashews and
pistachios were linked to a 15% lower risk of cardiovascular disease
and a 23% lower risk of coronary heart disease.
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Researchers found no evidence of an association between total nut
consumption and risk of stroke, but the risk of stroke was lower in
people who consumed larger amounts of peanuts and walnuts. Peanut
butter and tree nuts were not associated with stroke risk.
The study, reported online November 13 in the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology, wasn’t a controlled experiment
designed to prove whether or how eating nuts might lower the risk of
heart disease.
And it focused mainly on whites, which may mean the results don’t
apply to people of other racial or ethnic groups.
Even so, the results add to the large and growing body of evidence
pointing to heart benefits of nuts, said Dr. Emilio Ros, author of
an accompanying editorial and researcher at Instituto de Salud
Carlos III in Spain.
“What's new is the pinpointing of the risk associated with eating
particular nuts, such as walnuts and peanuts,” Ros said by email.
“Obviously the overall diet is very important for prevention of
heart disease,” Ros added. “It should be plant-based with abundant
veggies, legumes and fruit, whole cereals, fermented dairies and
fish and seafood and it should have little salt, meat and meat
products, and wine in moderation with meals (the Mediterranean
way).”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2w3RpVv
J Am Coll Cardiol 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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